Sewing machine



Feb.'23',1926. 1,574,184

E. F. BRIGHAM ET AL SEWING MACHINE Filed-Feb. a, 1923: 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INSULA'HON Feb.v23 1926.

' E. F. BRIGHAM r Al.

SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb- 6, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 23 1926.

SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb. 6, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 wmvrons.

p4 TTOR/VE V Feb. 23 1926. I

E. F. BRIGHAM ET AL SEWING MACHINE,

Filed Feb. 6, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 A TTOR/VE Z51 Patented Feb. 23, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD F. BRIGI-IAM AND JAMES N. DANIELS, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, AS- SIG-NORS TO BENJAMIN. 8t JOHNESyA CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SEWING MACHINE.

Application filed February 6, 1923. Serial No. 617,229.

To all whom it may concem: I

Be it known that we, EDWARD F. BRIGHAM ,and J AMns-N. DANIELS, both citizens of the United States, and residents of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New J ersoy, have invented new and useful Improvements in Sewing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention in general relates to a machine for sewing impenetrable objects such as metal fasteners, or objects which it is desired not to pierce with the needle, on garments or other material, for instance, brassieres and under bodices, or stitching an article having an impenetrable object there in, or producing a continuous line of stitches of different lengths, and more particularly to such a machine for sewing wire eyelets into the edge seam of garments or on strips of cloth which are adapted to be secured to the edge of an opening in the garment to cooperate with hooks on the opposite edge.

In the manufacture of certain classes of garments it is customary to arrange a plurality of metal eyelets in spaced relation in a row on the opening edges of a garment in a pocket or fold formed with openings through which the eyes of eyelets project, or on strips of cloth to be secured to said edges, and then sew said eyelets on the garment or strips by a line of stitching at the edge of said fold or pocket with the wellknown type of sewing machine. In such an operation the needle 'of'the sewing machine is frequently broken by striking an eyelet and thus the sewing operation is retarded and time'and needles are wasted.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide automatic mechanism to prevent the needle from descending to the work while an impenetrable object such as a metal fastener, or an object which it is desired not to pierce with'the needle, is passing beneath the needle to ensure against breaking of the needle or penetration of the object, and to provide a novel machine for producing a continuous line of stitches of dilferent lengths for various purposes, such as leaving spaced openings between pieces of material being sewed together.

Another object of the invention is to roride a machine of the character described whereby a row of eyelets can be securely sewed in a garment rapidly in one operation and without danger ofbreaking the needle or the thread or machine.

' A further object is to provide such a mastopping operation of the chine with which at least one stitch may be made between the arms of a wire loop eyelet to reenforce the fastening thereof on the garment or fastener strips.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a machine of this character embodying novel and improved means controlled by the.

eyelet or other object for temporarily stopping the needle bar and holding it above the work while the eyelet or other object is passing under the needle; to provide a trip mechanism actuated by engagement with the eyelet or other object and power-operated means controlled by said trip mechanism for substantially instantaneously disconnecting the drive shaft of the machine from the needle bar while the needle is above the work and the eyelet is passing beneath the needle and for automatically connecting said drive shaft and needle bar after the eyelet has passed from beneath the needleyto accomplish this result without. interrupting the work-feeding or drive mechanism of the machine; to provide such a machine embodying novel features of construction, and to obtain other results and advantages as may be brought out by the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

in which like numerals of reference indicate the same parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is an end elevation of the. head of a sewing machine showing our invention applied thereto with the parts in position to disengage the needle bar from the drive mechanism, portions being broken away for clearness in illustration Figure 2 is a side elevation of the construction shown in Figure 1;

- Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 4;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional View taken on the line 44 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the needle bar held in its upper- Figure 11 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 1111 of Figure 10;

Figure 12 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 12-12 of Figure 10 and Figure 13 is a fragmentary top plan view of the electric switch mechanism.

For the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention, we have shown the same in connection with a known type of sewing machine, the partsof said machine unnecessary for a complete understanding of our invention being omitted for the sake of elearness. The said machine includes a standard A carrying at one end the head B in which is vertically reciprocable the needle bar C driven from the usual drive mechanism D. The said head also has mounted therein the usual pressure foot bar E carrying at its lower end a pressure foot F adapted to engage the work and hold the same against the feed mechanism (not shown) mounted in the bed G of the machine.

We have also shown the invention in con.- nection with sewing a known type of fastener strip to the edge of a garment, such as a brassiere, the said fastener strip comprising a base strip a and a binding strip 1) between which are secured wire eyelets c which project beyond the edges of the base strip as shown in Figures 2'and 11 to cooperate with hooks carried by the opposite edge of the garment. These fastener stri s are sewed to the edge of the garment d y means of a line of stitching adjacent the edge of the garment and overlying the eye-' lets a. One object of our invention is to provide a machine for producing such a line of stitching 6 (see Fig. 11 without danger of breaking the needle or t a thread by contact of the needle with the eyelets, and at the same time formin one or more stitches between the arms of t e eyelets whereby the connection of the eyelets to'the' garment is materially strengthened.

In the embodiment of our invention shown on the drawings, a sleeve 1 is slidably mounted on the needle bar C and is connected at its lower end to the drive mechanism D of the machine as at 2, so that the said sleeve may be reciprocated on the needle bar by the drive mechanism D without moving the needle bar. For connecting the sleeve 1 to the needle bar to enable the needle bar to be driven by the drive mechanism, we may rigidly mount a split sleeve 3 on the needle bar by means of suitable fastening members such as the-screws 4, and form one side of said sleeve with a fin 5 having a transverse notch 6 in the edge thereof to receive the head 7 at one end of a dog 8 the other end of which is pivotally connected at 9 to the sleeve 1. Thus, when the head 7 of the dog 8 is arranged in said notch 6, the needle bar will be causedto reciprocate with the sleeve 1. A leaf'spring 10 may be provided for normally influencing the head 7 of the dog 8 into the notch 6 when said head and notch are in registry.

In this form of the invention the dog 8 is automatically disconnected from the needle bar when the needle bar is in its uppermost positionand the needle is passing over an eyelet a so that the needle cannot descend and engage the said eyelet. For this pur' pose we may form the head 7 of the dog 8 at its inner side with an inclined surface 11 to cooperate with a corresponding inclined surface 12 on a deflecting member 13 mounted on'thehead of the machine so that as the needle bar reaches its uppermost position the inclined surfaces 11 and 12 will engage and force the head 7 of the dog 8 outwardly from the notch 6. In the present instance we have shown the deflecting member 13 in the form of a lever pivotally mounted at its end opposite the inclined surface 12 within a suitable casing H which is shown as formed of two plates 14 and 15 separated by a spacing block 16, said lever 13 being mounted within the space between said plates 14 and 15. The said casing is rigidly secured to the head of the machine by suitable means such as the screws 17. One edge of the said casing is formed with an opening through which projects the fin 5. of the sleeve 3 on the needle bar, and the front plate of the casing is formed with a longitudinal slot 18 in which the head of the dog 8 is adapted to slide. Preferably, the fin 5 is also provided with a lug 19 to slide in said slot 18 to hold the needle bar against rotation. When the inclined surface 11 of the-head 7 of the dog 8 engages the inclined surface 12 of the deflecting member 13, the said head is deflected outwardly through the slot 18, and for the purpose of. preventing the head 7 from reentering said notch 6 as the sleeve 1 next descends, and to provide a smooth and uninterrupted slideway for said head when disconnected from the needle bar, we may form one edge of the slot 18 with a gate 20 hinge'dly connected at its lower end as at 21to the front plate 14 of the casing, the upper end of sa d gate being formed with an inclined surface 22 to cooperate with fluence of the drive mechanism D, the inclined surface 220 of the head 7 of the dog 8 engages the inclined surface 22 of the gate whichv guides-the head downwardly along the front of the gate20, as clearly shown in Figure 6. The needle bar C is held in its uppermost position against downward movement by means of a detent lever 240 which engages a correspondingly shaped notch 26 in the fin 5 of the sleeve 3 on the needle bar, said detent lever being pivotally connected to the casing H by means of a screw 25 and being normally influenced toward the needle bar by means of a spring 27. WVhen the dog 8 returns to the limit of. its upward stroke, the spring 10 forces the head 7 into the notch 6, whereupon the needle bar is carried downwardly on the next downward stroke of the sleeve 1, the notch 26 and the detent lever 240 being so shaped as to be automatically disconnected under the influence of the drive mechanism D.

The deflecting member 13 is normally held in a position out of the path of the head 7 of the dog 8 by means of a spring 28 and is forced into the path of the said head 7 only when the needle is passing over an eyelet or other impenetrable object on the work. The lower end of the spring 28 is fixedly secured to'the block 16 and its other end underlies a projection at the rear of the deflecting member 13, the resiliency of the spring being such as to yieldingly resist movement of the member 13 toward the slot 18. One mechanism for automatically in fluencing the deflecting member 13 into the path of the dog 8, asabove described, may consist of a s1id29 mounted in the casing H and having a beveled end 30 engaging a corresponding bevel 31 on the end of the member 13, so that movement of the slide 29 the machine and having one end arranged .in an opening 34 in the said slide.

The other'end of said lever 32 may be engaged by a core 35 of an electro-magnet 36 also rigidly mounted onthe standard of the machine. The lever 32 is normally operated in one direction to disengage the slide 29 and member 13 by means of a spring 360. The

electro-magnet-is connected in circuit with a source of electricity and a switch controlled by a trip mechanism actuated by engagement with the eyelets or other objects on the work. i

The said trip mechanism comprises a sleeve 37 slidably mounted on the pressure foot bar E and held against rotation by a set screw 38. The said sleeve is provided with an arm 39 on which is adjustably mounted by means of set screws 40 a bracket 41 carrying at one end a roller 42 adapted to engage the work- The sleeve 37. is normally influenced toward the work by means of a compressicn spring370, said movement of the sleeve being limited by the roller 42. The arm 39 is provided with a lateral exten sion 43 on which is pivotally mounted a bell crank lever 44 one end of which is provided with a trip finger 45 adapted to engage the work while the other end carries a swi ch blade 46 adapted to close the circuit through switch plates 47 and 48 connected in circuit with a source of electricity and the electromagnet 36. The switch blade 46 is normally held out of engagement with the switch plates 47 and 48 and the trip finger 45 is normally held in engagement with the work by means of a spring 49. It will be observed that the roller 42 ensures that the trip finger 45 will always be so positioned as to maintain the switch normally open and will perthe present instance opposite sides of the slot 50 are convergingly beveled and a block 53 is mounted therein carrying a threaded stud 54 which. pivotally receives the bell crank lever 44, the bell crank lever being held on said stud and the block 53 being held against movement in the slot by means of a cap 55 threaded on the stud 54.

The switch mechanism may be of any desired construction, but in the present instance is shown as comprising a block 56 of insulation secured to the head of the machine and'having the contact plates 47 and 48 mounted thereon in insulatedrelation by means of screws 57.

In the operation of the machine the work is fed beneath the pressure foot by the usual work feed mechanism of the machine and the needle bar is reciprocated by the drive mechanism D through the dog 8 and sleeve 3. The trip finger 45 is so positioned as to be engaged by the eyelets C- or other object on. the work it is desired not'to pierce with the deflecting member 13 into the path of the head 7 of the dog 8. Thus, when the needle bar ascends to its uppermost position, the dog 8 is disconnected from the needle bar and the needle bar is held in its uppermost position by means of the detent lever 24 engaging the notch 26 of the sleeve 3.

The sleeve 1 then descends on the needle bar under the influence of the drivemechanism D with the head 7 of the dog 8 sliding on the face of the front plate 14, as

shown in Figures 5 and 6. During this Gil descent of the sleeve 1 the work is fed at least one step forward which tends to move the eyelet from beneath the trip finger 45. After the eyelet or other object has passed from beneath the trip finger 45, the bell crank lever 44 is o erated by the spring 49 to return the trip finger to its normal position and open the switch so that the electromagnet is deenergized and the lever 32 operated in the opposite direction by the spring 360. This action causes the return of the slide 29 to its normal position and permits the movementof the deflecting member 13 out of the path of the dog 8 by the spring 28, so that on the next ascent of the sleeve 1 the head 7 of the dog 8 again engages the notch 6 under the influence of the spring 10 so that the needle bar next descends with the sleeve 1. It will thus be seen that the needle N is prevented from descending while the impenetrable. object is passing beneath the same so that there is no danger of the needle striking the eyelet or impene-' trable object so as to be broken and the operation of the machine stopped. With this construction it will also be observed that where the machine is utilized for sewing wire loop eyelets on a piece of material,

the needle is ermitted to descend between the arms of t e eyelets so as to form one or-Tnore stitches between the same arms so that the connection of the eyelets to the material is greatly strengthened.

It will be noted that the interruption of the actuation or sto pingof the descent of the needle bar pro uces a long stitch due to the movement ofthe work while the needle is held above the work, so that the invention is also susceptible of use for producing a continuous line of stitches of different lengths.

While we have shown and described our invention embodying certain details of construction and used in one way, it will be understood that this is only for the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention and that the invention is susceptible of execution by means of many different mechanisms and details of construction and may be adapted for many other uses without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. The invention broadly contemplates automatic means for varying, interrupting or stopping the actuation of the needle by the drive mechanism, and also the accomplishment of this result by means controlled by the work being operated upon. Therefore, we do not desire to be understood as limiting ourselves, except as required by the following claims when com strued in" the light of the prior art,

Having thus described the invention, what we claim is:

1. In a sewing machine, a stitch-forming mechanism including a needle, means for actuating said needle, work-feeding means, and a presser-foot, means for automatically interrupting action of said needle, and a trip mechanism for controlling said interrupting means and including a trip finger to constantly yieldingly engage the surface of said work and actuated by variations in the work surface, said trip mechanism being mounted on said presser-foot for relative movement thereto whereby said presser-foot may be raised and lowered without affecting the relation of said trip mechanism to the surface of the work.

2. Ina sewing machine, a stitch-forming mechanism including a needle, means for actuating said needle, work-feeding means, and a presser-foot, means for automatically interrupting action of said needle, and a trip mechanism for controlling said interrupting means including a member movably mounted on said Presser-foot, means for yieldingly forcing said member toward said work, a roller to engage said work and limit movement of said member toward said work, and a trip finger movably mounted on said member to constantly yieldingly engage said work and be actuated by variations in the work surface, said Presser-foot therebybein movable without affecting the relation of sald trip mechanism to said work.

3. In a sewing machine, a stitch-forming I l o a mechanism including a needle, means for members and the other arm having a trip finger to constantly engage the work, and means for yieldingly maintaining engagement of said trip finger with the work so that upon variations in the work surface said bell-crank lever is oscillatedto successively cause engagement and disengagement of said blade with said contact members.

4. In a sewing machine, a stitch-forming mechanism including a needle, means for actuating the same, work-feeding means and a presser-foot so that the movements of the work and said needle have a normal definite relation, electromagnetically operated means for automatically changing the relation of the movements of the work and said needle, and electric switch mechanism for controlling the last-mentioned means, said switch mechanism including a member movably mounted on said Presser-foot, means for yieldingly forcing said member toward the work, a roller to engagethe work and limit movement of said member toward the work, and a trip finger for. operating the switch movably mounted on said member and constantly yieldingly influenced into engagement with the surface of the work so as to be actuated by variations in the work-surface, said presser-foot thereby being movable without affecting the relation of said trip finger to said work.

5. In a sewing machine, a needle bar, a

sleeve slidable thereon, actuating means 0 peratively connected to said sleevewor feeding means, means for normally,connecting said sleeve to said needle bar to move said needle bar therewith, means cooperating with said connecting means to disconnect said sleeve and said needle bar, an electromagnet for actuating said last-mentioned means, and switch mechanism controlled by and said needle having a the work for controlling an electric circuit throulgh said electromagnet.

6. n asew-ing machme, a stitch-forming mechanism including a needle, means for actuating the same, work-feeding means and a presser-foot, the movements of the work normal definite relation, means for automatically changing the relation of the movements of the work and said needle, and trip mechanism for controlling the last-mentioned means, said trip mechanism including a member movably mounted on said presser-foot, means for yieldingly forcing said member toward the work, a roller to engage the work and limit movement of said member toward the work, and a trip finger for operating the trip mechanism movably mounted on said member and constantly yieldingly influenced into engagement with the surface of the work so as to be actuated by variations in the work surface, said presser-foot thereby being movable without affecting the relation of said trip finger to said work.

7. In a sewing machine, a needle bar, a sleeve slidable thereon, actuating means operatively connected to said sleeve, workfeeding means, means for normally connecting said sleeve to said needle bar to move said needle bar therewith, means c0operating with said connecting means to disconnect said sleeve and said needle bar, a source of power independent of the actuat" ing means for said sleeve for actuating said last-mentioned means, and means cont-rolling application of power from said source to cause disconnection of said sleeve and said needle bar.

EDWARD F. BRIGHAM. JAMES N. DANIELS. 

